MICHAEL
VAUGHAN
Opener can flourish in
Tests with an attacking
mindset complemented
by some common sense
I
f Jason Roy wants a template
on which to base his Test
career, he should look to
his opposite number in
England’s Ashes opponents
this summer – David Warner.
Like Roy, Warner went from
Twenty20 and 50-over cricket
straight into the Test game and has
made a stunning success of it –
precisely because he adapted his
game to the longer format. Watch
Warner in a Test now, and he does
not just try to whack everything.
Instead, he takes his time, assesses
conditions and plays the ball on its
merits. Yes, he is still an attacking
player, but that attitude is
tempered by common sense.
Virender Sehwag was the same
for India, taking the positive
mindset which had served him so
well in one-dayers into the Test
arena. It made him a nightmare
to play against because, as an
opposing captain, you knew that
if you did not get him out in the
first hour, India would get off to a
flier.
He had the potential to destroy
all your carefully laid plans as a
captain, and Roy can have that
same kind of impact for England.
He certainly has all the attributes
you want in a Test opener.
If you see him in a one-day
innings, he watches the ball very
well, is very strong down the
ground and plays the ball as late as
possible. All those skills are
invaluable in the longer format,
especially playing late, when you
are facing a red ball that will swing
more than a white one.
He must not fall into the trap ofthinking that just because he has
the reputation as an attacking
player, he must try to smash every
ball, but retaining a positive
mindset is crucial if he is to have
the impact England are expecting.
In that regard, England have to
show a bit of patience, as does
everyone following the team. A
player such as Roy is going to play
the odd iffy shot and get out – that
is just what happens when
someone likes to get on the front
foot and dominate the bowling.
The key is for him to take the
confidence and swagger he showed
in the World Cup – when his return
from injury transformed a team
who had been wobbling badly into
winners – and not overthink
things.
Do not get bogged down by
thinking you need to bat all day,
or two sessions or whatever – just
trust your instincts. They have
served you pretty well up to
this point.
Roy’s selection tells me a lot
about the way England want to
take their Test team, because it has
changed the dynamic of the top
order at a stroke.
Recently, England have had
three old-school players in the top
three positions – accumulators
who were conservative in their
approach and whose main prioritywas occupying the crease. Picking
an attacking batsman such as Roy
and asking him to front up to a
world-class new-ball attack in
Australia shows me that England
want to up their aggression.
They want to dictate the tempo
of the Test and put their opponents
on the back foot.
It is the way this team need to
go. To put it bluntly, they just do
not have a Geoffrey Boycott-style
“wall” who can come in and bat for
six hours – in fact, not many teams
have anyone like that these days.
We are living through a
changing era of cricket. Shots
that would have been considered
madness in my era are now par for
the course, and scoring rates are
sky-high. England are at the
forefront of that – they have an
abundance of aggressive, powerful
batsmen who can take the game
to the opposition, so they just have
to go with it.
That is one of the reasons I
would have been tempted to pair
Roy with Jonny Bairstow at the top
of the Test order, recreating the
partnership from one-day cricket.
That would obviously only work if
Jonny was happy to give up the
wicketkeeping gloves to Ben
Foakes – and we know that is not
what he wants, so it would
probably be a short conversation.
Still, it must have been seriously
tempting for the selectors to
raise it as a possibility.
What England do not have to
worry about is players such as Roy
being overawed by the occasion –
winning the World Cup in the
manner they did proved that will
not be an issue. Neither will Roy’s
confidence be knocked by getting
a couple of low scores, as he has
the kind of attitude that will shrug
that off very quickly.
That said, it will do him no harm
if he gets a big score against
Ireland.
It might not be the showpiece
Test of the summer, but he will
walk out at Edgbaston for the first
Ashes game next week in a much
better mood if he is coming off the
back of a big hundred against the
Irish. Set the tone today, and
Australia will have been served
notice.Warner and Sehwag set
the template for Roy to
replicate white-ball form
ECB should pay for every club to have Sky
Rory Burns
Made his Test debut for
England last year on the tour
to Sri Lanka after his weight
of runs in the County
Championship, averaging
over 50, made selection a
no-brainer. However, he has
yet to convince. In two Test
series, against Sri Lanka and
West Indies, he averages 25
with a highest score of 84.
This season he is averaging
only 38 with Surrey.Moeen Ali
Dropped from the World Cup
starting XI after taking only
five wickets, Moeen needs a
good showing against Ireland
to restore confidence, not only
his own but also his captain’s
in him. His presence in the
Test side adds balance but he
needs to be scoring runs and
taking wickets to justify his
place in the Ashes.Jason Roy
A popular selection but a Test
debut at 29 is a gamble. Roy
has played 84 ODIs for
England and 32 international
T20s with great success.
However, he played just two
first-class matches last season
for Surrey and has opened
only a handful of times, often
in a run chase. He averages
38.38 in first-class cricket with
nine centuries in 81 matches.I
have one straightforward
suggestion for the England and
Wales Cricket Board if it wants
a way of capitalising on the
feel-good factor sparked by the
World Cup: pay every cricket club
in the country to have a Sky TV
subscription.
There was a lot of talk during the
tournament about the effect of the
lack of free-to-air TV coverage on
English cricket, and how puttingthe final on Channel 4 opened it up
to a huge new audience at a stroke.
I saw this at the cricket club
around the corner from me,
Lindow in Cheshire. They cannot
afford a Sky feed, but put the final
on because it was on terrestrial TV
and had that on while hosting a
big event for kids.
Ninety-eight turned up to take
part in a mini-tournament, 68
volunteers offered their time tomake the event a success and 400
people came through the doors- many for the first time. In total,
they raised more than £6,000.
Would that have happened
had they not been able to show
the game? Doubtful.
So if cricket has to remain on pay
TV, why not pay every club’s Sky
fees and help them make this kind
of event the norm, rather than just
a glorious one-off?
England's opening partnerships
since Sep 2012Compton-Cook
Cook-Root
Carberry-Cook
Cook-Robson
Cook-Trott
Cook-Lyth
Ali-Cook
Cook-Hales
Compton-Hales
Cook-Duckett
Cook-Hameed
Cook-Jennings
Cook-Stoneman
Burns-Jennings
InnsAve 100s
57.9326.63
32.27
25.66
30.92
36.634.24538.567.632.4
18.75
29.33
25
17
11
10
11
6
13
5
20
1
4
5
22
20
9
3 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0
The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 24 July 2019 *** 3
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